IDF Warns Lebanon 'You'll Pay If Hezbollah Strikes'

IDF reportedly sends warning through UNIFIL, tells Lebanese government it will be targeted if Hezbollah carries out threat.

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Ari Yashar, 28/02/14 11:49

IDF patrol along border with Lebanon

Flash 90

The IDF has reportedly issued a stern warning to the Lebanese government, clarifying that the government will be held response and be a target for response should Hezbollah carry out its threats to attack Israel.

Hezbollah's menacing announcements on Wednesday were the terror group's first recognition of an IAF air strike Monday that took out a convoy of missiles and missile launchers from Syria heading to a Hezbollah position.

"The Beirut government will be responsible for any strike by Hezbollah," warned the IDF message, which was delivered by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), reports the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Jebra Bassil on Thursday announced his plans to turn to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon to complain about the IAF air strike that targeted terror, calling it a breach of Lebanon's sovereignty.

In Hezbollah's Wednesday threats, the group warned it would attack Israel at "the appropriate time, place and means."

Following the threat, Army Radio announced the IDF went on high alert, as "the military ordered farmers to stay away from the (Lebanese) border... and there was movement of military vehicles around border communities."

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been evasive regarding Israeli responsibility for the air strike. On Tuesday, while in a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said "we are doing everything that is necessary in order to defend the security of Israel."

When asked directly about the air strike, Netanyahu said elusively "we will not say what we're doing or what we're not doing."